Dynamic lightpath establishment in wavelength-routed WDM networks

In wavelength-routed WDM networks, a control mechanism is required to set u p and take down all-optical connections. Upon the arrival of a connection r equest, this mechanism must be able to select a route, assign a wavelength to the connection, and configure the appropriate optical switches in the ne twork. The mechanism must also be able to provide updates to reflect which wavelengths are currently being used on each link so that nodes may make in formed routing decisions. In this work, we review control mechanisms propos ed in the literature. We also investigate and compare two different distrib uted control mechanisms for establishing all-optical connections in a wave length-routed WDM network: an approach based on link-state routing, and one based on distance-vector routing.